BANBURY United manager Paul Davis believes being crowned Oxfordshire Senior Cup champions tonight would be a fitting reward for his players’ efforts this season.
Despite a strong finish to the campaign, they were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempt to avoid relegation from the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division.
The Puritans take on North Leigh at Oxford’s Kassam Stadium this evening (7.45) in the final, and Davis is targeting a positive end to a difficult campaign.
“I hope we can do it and finish on a high to take something positive into the summer,” he said.
“I think the players deserve it.
“A few people might question me on that, but the amount of effort they’ve put in during the last few weeks has been great and they deserve to be recognised for that.
“I don’t just mean a pat on the back, they deserve a medal and a trophy.”
Like their opponents, North Leigh are also seeking a degree of consolation after the disappointment of missing out on a Division 1 South & West play-off place.
The Millers finished eighth, ten points adrift of the top five, but knocked out Oxford United with a 3-2 win in the semi-final.
Boss Mark Gee said: “Obviously our main aim was to be successful in our league campaign, but if reaching the final of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup is failure for us now then it just shows how far we’ve come as a club.
“We’ve won the Senior Cup before, but it’s been a little while now and it would be nice to win it again.”
- North Leigh boss Mark Gee
The Millers are without the unavailable Jon Else, while Banbury are unchanged from the squad which lost 1-0 at Chesham United on the final day of the league season.
TONIGHT’S SQUADS
Banbury Utd: from Bedwell, Walcott, Cray, Meade, Ryan, Green, Martin, Tahin, George, Howards, Fishwick, Weston, Tappin, Amegnaglo, Browne, Westbrook, Lewars, Daffern, Isaac, Abdellah.
North Leigh: from Bulman, Gunn, Westlake, Hopkins, Hole, Osborne-Ricketts, Bowles, McNish, Williams, Sanders, Cook, Turk, A Woodley, Caton, McNish.
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